Minisforum has unveiled a game-changing device that blurs the lines between tablets and laptops: the Minisforum V3. Today, the V3 laptop has hit the Minisforum store. This innovative 3-in-1 tablet is powered by the high-performance AMD Ryzen 7 8840U processor, offering a unique blend of portability and computing power. Unlike its traditional Mini PC design, Minisforum has adopted the popular form factor of Microsoft Surface and Lenovo Yoga tablet PCs with the V3. This versatile device can be a handheld tablet, a laptop with an included magnetic attachable keyboard, or a solo kickstand. At the heart of the Minisforum V3 lies the 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 8840U processor, capable of delivering exceptional performance for demanding tasks. The tablet features a stunning 14-inch 2560 x 1600 IPS screen with a 165 Hz refresh rate and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, making it an ideal choice for creative professionals and content creators.

The V3's standout feature is its advanced cooling system, which allows the Ryzen 7 8840U and onboard Radeon 780M iGPU to operate at a stable 28 watts. This ensures smooth and efficient performance even under heavy workloads, making it a reliable device for all your tasks. The tablet's screen boasts a remarkable 500 nits of brightness, and its high color gamut coverage makes it perfect for professionals who require accurate color representation. Minisforum has priced the V3 competitively at $1199 at the pre-sale offering, making it an attractive option for those seeking a powerful and versatile device that can adapt to various scenarios. This primary option includes 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD for storage. For early birds, Minisforum offers a V Pen, tempered glass screen protector, and laptop sleeve as a gift. Here is the link to the Minisforum V3 store.

Today we announced incredible AI experiences from across Microsoft and four new Surface devices. These products have been redesigned to reflect our longstanding commitment to integrating the voice of commercial customers. Our new Surface devices have been built for the needs and wants of end-users to be more productive, creative and collaborative while supporting the needs of IT professionals to deploy, manage and support these devices at scale through the lifecycle. With these new products, we not only bring new innovation and technology but are delivering on some of the most requested commercial features with more performance, improved security, manageability and repairability.

Each product brings unique value and features to meet the many needs of businesses, across industries and functions. Whether you are optimizing for frontline workers needing mobility and versatility, or developers and creators with graphic intensive needs, we have developed these products to ensure we deliver the value you need across your workforce.

Microsoft has scheduled a special product announcement event for next week—Germany's WinFuture has likely spoiled all mystery ahead of time by revealing two next generation Surface devices. It was already speculated that Microsoft would exhibit a bunch of new portable Windows PCs at the upcoming September 21 New York City-based shindig, but this week's leak treats us to photos and initial specifications for the Laptop Studio 2 and Laptop Go 3. The former retains its predecessor's 14.4-inch 3:2 format display, with a 2400×1600 resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate. Under-the-hood improvements for the Surface Laptop Studio 2 include a jump up to 13th Gen Intel Core Raptor Lake CPUs (from 11th Gen Tiger Lake)—WinFuture reckons that two options are lined up: Core i7-13700H and and Core i7-13800H. The Surface Laptop Studio 2's discrete graphics solution is speculated to be a mobile NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 or RTX 4060 GPU.

A base model could rely on an iGPU based on Intel Iris Xe graphics architecture. 64 GB of LPDDR5X memory is believed to exist with some configurations, which is a nice upgrade (albeit probably a very pricey option) over the previous generation's 16 or 32 GB RAM offerings. The leaked photos indicate that a Micro-SD slot and USB Type-A connector are new additions for 2023's model. The WinFuture article presents some prices—€2249 (~$2400) for the basic iGPU model, mid-tier with RTX 4050: €2729 (~$2915), and €3199 (~$3415) for an almost top flight model sporting 32 GB RAM and RTX 4060. The Surface Laptop Go 3, meanwhile, looks a little less exciting—it is said to get a CPU bump up to Intel Core i5-1135G and Core i5-1235U processors. Otherwise it looks largely similar to its previous-gen sibling. The leak did not include images of a reported Surface Go 4, but WinFuture expects it to be presented next week, powered by an Intel N200 SoC.

Microsoft has started to sell a limited selection of replacement parts for Surface devices in the United States, Canada, and France—more regions will be added in the future. The company's online store now presents listings for replacement displays, batteries, SSDs and several other internal pieces. Brave customers can now perform repairs on their out-of-warranty Surface models, which saves on a trip to local shop or a costly return back to base. Tim McGuiggan, Microsoft's vice president of device services and product engineering stated: "We are excited to offer replacement components to technically inclined consumers for out-of-warranty self repair. When purchasing a replacement component, you will receive the part and relevant collateral components (such as screws if applicable)."

The various offerings of spare parts for Surface tablets, laptops, and all-in-one systems heavily favors Microsoft's fairly new 9-series. For example, the Surface Pro 9 is well catered for with an impressive selection of kickstands, displays, batteries, ports, protective covers, speakers, networking components, and cameras. Owners of the older Surface Pro 7 (2019) are limited to a single kickstand. A continued partnership with iFixit also provides a means to sell official tools for repair purposes and installation of replacement parts. It should be noted that some of the items listed on the Microsoft Store are very expensive—a Surface Studio 2 Plus replacement screen will knock you back $1749.99. The fanciest Surface Pro 9 screen is $362.99, while its spare batteries are $237.99 for an Intel variant, and $249.99 for Arm models.

Kensington, a worldwide leader of desktop computing and mobility solutions for IT, business, and home office professionals, today announced the expansion of its portfolio of innovative docking solutions for Microsoft Surface devices, with the launch of the SD5765T Thunderbolt 4 Dual 4K Docking Station. Kensington's portfolio of Designed for Surface (DfS) Thunderbolt 4, USB4 and USB-C docking stations enhance the usability of Surface devices to optimize the productivity of professionals and creatives.

Thunderbolt 4 Dock Adds Speed, Power, Video Options to Surface Devices
Designed to enhance the productivity of professionals using Thunderbolt based Surface devices running Windows, Kensington's new Plug-and-Play SD5765T Thunderbolt 4 Dual 4K Docking Station is an affordable, high-speed dock that enables users to connect multiple 4K monitors and accessories without using adapters.

Microsoft Surface Pro X owners are reporting that their hybrid detachable tablet computer's in-built (front and rear) camera systems have stopped working - user feedback has been popping up on Reddit and the Microsoft Support forum this week. Unfortunate users of the flagship Arm-driven device have attempted to restore normal operation via driver reinstalls, but to no avail. Windows simply displays an error message that states "0xA00F4271<MediaCaptureFailedEvent> (0x80004005)" when the Surface's camera application is launched. A reddit user (Wapitiii) posits that an expired security certificate is the route cause for this issue, which seems to affect all Pro X units.

A couple of crafty Surface Pro X owners have resorted to rolling back their system clocks to May 22 (2023), which seems to restore the camera app's functionality, but this workaround could have potential downsides with online authentication and security checks. A redditor has been in touch with a "support representative, and they confirmed it is a known issue that Microsoft is currently working on." They have suggested another placeholder measure: "The only way to fix it immediately is if you do a full system reset which deletes all applications and files. He said doing a reset that retains user files does not fix the problem. He advised waiting a few days to see if Microsoft puts out a fix versus doing a full reset unless the cameras are needed immediately." The company is currently engaged in its own Build developers conference, where (ironically) announcements have been made about improvements intended for business devices (such as the Surface Pro X) - hopefully Microsoft's engineers can get onto solving this problem, once festivities are concluded.

CORSAIR, a world leader in enthusiast components for gamers, creators, and PC builders, today announced the launch of two new PCIe Gen 4 M.2 Solid State Drives—the MP600 MINI and the MP600 CORE XT. These drives extend the CORSAIR SSD range to an ultra-compact M.2 2230 form factor, and a new highly competitive combination of price and performance, allowing a new wave of device upgrades.

The MP600 MINI brings CORSAIR M.2 SSD performance to its smallest ever size, with the M.2 2230 form factor measuring just 22 mm x 30 mm. The MP600 MINI is compatible with popular handheld gaming systems, such as the Valve Steam Deck, as well as thin and light machines where space is at a premium, such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 and 9. With an impressive 1 TB of capacity and PCIe Gen 4 performance of up to 4,800 MB/sec read and 4,800 MB/sec write, the MP600 MINI is an ideal performance and storage upgrade for data hungry small-form-factor devices, whether it's to store a growing game collection, or essential files.

A next-generation Microsoft Surface Pro X with Windows 11 was shown running a Microsoft-branded processor that's expected to be a design collaboration between the company and Qualcomm, in a bid to develop a high performance/Watt solution rivaling the Apple M1. Microsoft's contribution to this is the x86-64 emulation heavily integrated into Windows 11, letting you run native x86-64 apps seamlessly, with the OS handling the hardware abstraction much like WOW64.

Called the Microsoft SQ2, the silicon features an 8-core/8-thread CPU, and an iGPU that meets the minimum requirements of Windows 11 for its standard UI, with just enough power for web-browsing with high-res videos. The CPU runs at speeds of up to 3.15 GHz, and has a fairly advanced memory system that includes a 3-level cache and LPDDR5 memory.

Microsoft's hardware legacy stretches back more than four decades to the early days of personal computing. As Windows built and inspired new computing experiences, new Microsoft hardware accessories helped people interact with them. At this intersection of hardware and software, magical experiences are possible. This core belief is at the heart of every product we build at Microsoft, and it's especially true of our Surface products. For almost a decade, Surface has pioneered breakthrough experiences that immerse people in their creative flow, eliminating friction that often exists between people and technology.

Surface allows people to adapt to new ways of working and creating through innovative and versatile devices that offer premium design and performance, quality typing and trackpads, exceptional cameras and mics, and immersive touchscreen display technologies. From the student learning on their Surface Go or Surface Laptop Go, to the knowledge worker on their Surface Pro 7+, to the creative professional working on a Surface Book 3, these products now serve as a lifeline to connections, content and work. It's inspiring to consider all that can be achieved on a Surface.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 64.8 million units in the second quarter of 2020, a 2.8% increase from the second quarter of 2019, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. After a significant decline in the first quarter of the year due to COVID-19-related supply chain disruptions, the PC market returned to growth as vendors restocked their channels and mobile PC demand increased.

"The second quarter of 2020 represented a short-term recovery for the worldwide PC market, led by exceptionally strong growth in EMEA," said Mikako Kitagawa, research director at Gartner. "After the PC supply chain was severely disrupted in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the growth this quarter was due to distributors and retail channels restocking their supplies back to near-normal levels.

A 3D mark entry uncovered by database spelunker Tum_Apisak, since shared on Twitter, points towards Microsoft incorporating AMD's latest and greatest mobility-geared CPU in one of their upcoming product refreshes. The database entry register an unknown Microsoft device carrying ÃMD's Ryzen 7 4800U CPU. All specs are correct for this CPU - GPU cores, GPU clock, as well as CPU base and boost clocks.

While we can't know for sure this is Microsoft's next iteration of the Surface Laptop, assuming it is just an educated guess. Microsoft's current-gen Surface Laptop 3 shipped in a special, AMD-inside edition in the form of the "Microsoft Surface Edition" Ryzen 5 3580U - and if Microsoft included an AMD Zen+ CPU manufactured in a 12 nm fabrication process inside their Surface Laptop, we would find it very hard to justify not including the much-improved Ryzen 7 4800U - the chip is better in any conceivable way compared to its last-gen counterpart. This is a sure way of improving overall performance and battery life of their Surface Laptops compared to what the competition has currently available.

Intel CPUs have been rather notorious for system bugs recently. Starting from 2018's Spectre and Meltdown which used speculative execution to exploit systems, the string of new vulnerabilities just continued to this day. Recently we had CrossTalk exploit which represents a threat to cloud providers, where one user could compromise another just by using the same CPU from which the virtual instances are powered. These types of exploits are even more dangerous than ones that require local access, as that is already dangerous by itself. A lot of these issues are said to be ironed out by Intel's new microarchitecture designs like Ice Lake, Tiger Lake, and future revisions.

However, it seems like Intel is encountering some problems with even the latest Ice Lake CPUs when it comes to system bugs. JetBrains, a Czech provider of software development tools has a Java programming language development environment called IntelliJ integrated development environment. It was recently reported that on MacBook Air 2020 and Microsoft Surface Pro models equipped with 10th generation Intel Ice Lake CPUs, IntelliJ IDE causes system restart or a complete OS crash. In the report, the CPU ran in a Linux VM that isolates itself from MacOS so the macOS XNU kernel is not to blame. In the report thread, another user running Windows on Microsoft Surface Pro experienced the crash as well.

AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) today announced revenue for the third quarter of 2019 of $1.80 billion, operating income of $186 million, net income of $120 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.11. On a non-GAAP(*) basis, operating income was $240 million, net income was $219 million and diluted earnings per share was $0.18.

"Our first full quarter of 7 nm Ryzen, Radeon and EPYC processor sales drove our highest quarterly revenue since 2005, our highest quarterly gross margin since 2012 and a significant increase in net income year-over-year," said Dr. Lisa Su, AMD president and CEO. "I am extremely pleased with our progress as we have the strongest product portfolio in our history, significant customer momentum and a leadership product roadmap for 2020 and beyond."

Today, AMD and Microsoft announced the first-ever 15-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop powered by new AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition processors. A significant, multi-year co-engineering program between AMD and Microsoft at the silicon, platform, and software levels created this 15" Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 with a perfect balance of performance, battery life, and sleek and lightweight design. Combining world-class compute and graphics performance with a fully optimized, rearchitected system software stack including AMD Radeon FreeSync display technology, Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is designed for creative professionals, students, gamers on the go, and business users who value the large screen experience alongside portability. The custom AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition processors and optimized software highlight the latest example in the multi-year collaboration between AMD and Microsoft, first established more than a decade ago for the Microsoft Xbox and now spanning from Azure to Surface to xCloud and Project Scarlett.

Microsoft has been using Intel hardware exclusively on its Surface lineup ever since it came out with the first Surface device. The choice was clear - Intel offered much better energy efficiency than anything AMD could offer at the time, besides the strong bond between the two companies. However, it seems that AMD might have done enough with its Ryzen 3000 series to sway big Microsoft into using some of its hardware (Ryzen 3000H or U) on upcoming Surface devices, if reports are to be believed.

Microsoft should be refreshing its Surface Laptop 2 with a 15-inch variant packing AMD hardware. It's uncertain if this will happen, and much less likely to happen for the entirety of Microsoft's Surface product stack (which includes potential refreshes for Surface Pro 6, Surface Book 2, Surface Go or Surface Studio 2). However, that AMD is now being considered alongside Intel in what can be said to be the ultimate Windows experience in Microsoft's usually excellently-designed products is a prestige in and of itself, and means an empowered brand standing for the red camp. Oh and Microsoft might finally be introducing that dual-screen device we've been hearing rumblings about for a while. Project "Centaurus" has already been seeded among Intel insiders, it seems, so it might see the light of day in the upcoming Microsoft Surface event taking place in New York on October 2nd.

Alongside refreshes galore to their Surface hardware lineup of laptops, all-in-one devices and convertible PCs, Microsoft did have a surprise announcement as part of their media event earlier today. This included a whole new product genre under the Surface brand in the form of headphones.

The new Surface headphones join the current trend of audiophile-rated wireless headphones, which sounds like a misnomer in itself, and comes with 13 levels of noise cancellation with 8 microphones for the process controlled via an adjustment dial as per Anandtech. This is an over-the-ear style headphones offering beam-forming for hands-free calling and Cortana support for when you want to use Microsoft's take on the virtual assistant. Pairing via Bluetooth and coming in the now-standard Surface gray color scheme, the Surface headphones are priced at $349 and will be available later this year.